The Midway Woods Book Club meets regularly to discuss books of interest to the group. Book Club participants vote on which book to read next, and then meet up to discuss what they’ve read and enjoy each others’ company.
It’s not too late to join in for our next book!
Slated for June is a discussion of the novel West with Giraffes by Lynda Rutledge.
My Parents Basement is at 22 N. Avondale Road in Avondale Estates.
A description of the book from the author’s website: “Woodrow Wilson Nickel, age 105, feels his life ebbing away. But when he learns giraffes are going extinct, he finds himself recalling the unforgettable experience he cannot take to his grave….It’s 1938….The Great Depression lingers. Hitler is threatening Europe, and world-weary Americans long for wonder. They find it in two giraffes who miraculously survive a hurricane while crossing the Atlantic. What follows is a twelve-day road trip in a custom truck to become Southern California’s first giraffes. Behind the wheel is the young Dust Bowl rowdy Woodrow. Inspired by true events, the tale weaves real-life figures with fictional ones, including the world’s first female zoo director, a crusty old man with a past, a young female photographer with a secret, and assorted reprobates as spotty as the giraffes.
“Part adventure, part historical saga, and part coming-of-age love story, West with Giraffes explores what it means to be changed by the grace of animals, the kindness of strangers, the passing of time, and a story told before it’s too late.”
More information on the book is available on the author’s website: https://www.lyndarutledge.com/disc.htm
If you’d like to join the club, just send an email to midwaywoodscommunications@gmail.com and let us know you’d like to join! Just email us if you’d like to get in on the fun!
Among the other books that the club has read and discussed in the past:
- The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin
- My Time Will Come: A Memoir of Crime, Punishment, Hope, and Redemption by Ian Manual.
- Blow Your House Down: A Story of Family, Feminism, and Treason by Gina Frangello
- Less by Andrew Sean Greer
- Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century by Jessica Bruder
- Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson
- Educated by Tara Westover
- The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires: A Novel by Grady Hendrix
- The Weight of Ink by Rachel Kadish
- Queen Sugar by Natalie Baszile
- Memorial Drive: A Daughter’s Memoir by Natasha Trethawey
- Between Two Kingdoms: A Memoir of a Life Interrupted by Suleika Jaouad
- The Personal Librarian by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray
- Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus
- Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing
- Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
- The Girl with the Louding Voice: A Read by Abi Daré
We hope you will consider joining us for what is sure to be a rousing and entertaining discussion of West With Giraffes!
The author’s whiteboard put together as she started planning and plotting her novel.